Raven
Raven '(鴉 (レイブン), ''Reibun, lit. Crow) is the Nightray Family's Chain, which was later then tamed by Gilbert Nightray. Most recently, Raven followed Gil's final order, severing his left arm in order to break his vows to Oswald, before Gil severed his Legal Contract with Raven in favor of an Illegal Contract, as Oswald would have been able to stop the flow of Abyssal power to Raven using the Nightrays' Door to the Abyss had the Legal Contract remained intact. History Raven once was contracted to the Glen Baskerville two generations past, Levi, and was the first of Levi's Black Winged Chains to be transfered into Levi's successor, Oswald. After Oswald had formed a contract with Raven, Owl, Dodo, Gryphon and Jabberwock, Oswald then used his five Black Winged Chains to pass judgement on his younger sister, Lacie and cast her into the Abyss for her sin of being born with the red eyes of ill omen. After Oswald was told by Jack Vessalius that he had come across two children who had a story similar to that of Lacie and Oswald's, Vincent and Gilbert, Oswald had two Baskervilles retrieve the children as soon as they could. Gilbert was to become Oswald's successor, and Vincent was to be cast into the Abyss as a Child of Ill Omen. Soon came the time for Gilbert's first Accession Ceremony, where he would recieve Raven from Oswald, though because of Jack's manipulation of the Intention of the Abyss while she inhabited Alice's body, Vincent was told by her that this ceremony would mark the start of Gil's death as the combined soul of Glen smothered Gil's own soul, taking over Gil's body so 'Glen' could continue to rule the Baskervilles. While Vincent cried over the loss of his older brother, Miranda Barma approached him, as planned by Jack, and told Vincent that by opening the Door to the Abyss during the Accession Ceremony, Vincent would interrupt the ceremony and prevent Oswald from owning Gil's body, forcing Oswald to wait another 100 years for the next vessel of Glen Baskerville to be born. Vincent did just this after Raven had been tied to Gilbert but before the contract could be made, and so Raven could not be transfered to Gilbert by Oswald. Vincent's opening of the Door to the Abyss lead to the Tragedy of Sablier. After the Tragedy, Oswald's five Black Feathered Chains returned to the five Doors to the Abyss as guardians of the Doors, and so four noble families, being the Nightrays, the Vessaliuses, the Rainsworths and the Barmas, obtained four of the five Doors, and by extension, four of the five Black Feathered Chains. The Nightray Family recieved the Door that contained Raven, though the Duke of the Nightrays, Bernard, could not form a cotnract with Raven, and neither could his sons Fred, Claude or Ernest. This was because Raven had been successfully tied to Gilbert, and would not be able to contract to anyone else but him. Luckily for the Nightrays, Gilbert had been spat out of the Abyss 100 years after the Tragedy of Sablier. Plot Coming of Age Ceremony Arc After Gilbert had agreed to spy on the Nightray Family for Xerxes Break because Break had told him that there may have been a way they could save Gilbert's young master, Oz, from the Abyss, Gilbert met Vincent. Gilbert could remember his younger brother's name only, as other memories surrounding Vincent were painful to remember. Gilbert immediately asked Vincent about Raven after they met. Vincent takes Gil down to the Nightray's Door to the Abyss. While Vincent explains how the Four Great Dukedoms only retain their positions because the have Doors to the Abyss which they can use to access Chains from the Abyss, Gilbert touches the Nightray's Door and goes to a dark place where he sees a large bird-like creature surrounded by Chains. It starts spreading its wings, and so Vincent pulls Gil back, telling him that he mustn't be pulled in by its darkness. Gil asks if that was Raven, which Vincent confirms, also adding that it's said that Black Feathered Chains can create paths to the Abyss, and so if Gil were to use this, he could save Oz. Gil pulls away from Vincent upon hearing this and Vincent tells Gil not to worry, as he most definatly will be able to form a contract with Raven. After almost ten years, Gilbert once again approaches Raven. Raven is surprised to see Gilbert again, but tells him that he's qualified to form a contract with Raven. Raven binds Gilbert with Chains and cuts through his skin in order to taste Gil's blood, which Raven says tastes the same. Gilbert grabs the Chains holding his arms and barks at Raven, saying that he'd devoted his entire life to forming a contract with him, and that if Gil really was qualified, Raven should just form a contract with him already. Raven was surprised by Gil's outburst, but agrees and tells him that once again, Raven would be bound to Gilbert's left arm, which confuses Gil. Raven then draws some of its own blood, which Gil soaks up using a Blood Sealing Mirror from Pandora in order to make the contract legal. When the time came for Gil, Sharon Rainsworth and Break to try and open a path to the Abyss in order to save Oz, the three of them arrived at the place where Oz's Coming of Age Ceremony had been held. Before they could procede to use Raven to open said path, Oz escapes the Abyss on his own after forming an Illegal contract with B-Rabbit. Gil, Break and Sharon then take Oz back to the Rainsworth mansion, where Gil used Raven's power to seal B-Rabbit's own power to stop B-Rabbit from destroying Oz just by inhabiting his body. Cheshire's Dimension Arc Equus arrives when Cheshire's dimension is crumbling, though he only rescues Oz and Alice, leaving Break and Gil to be detroyed alongside the dimension. Gil was forced to summon Raven and have Raven transport both himself and Gil back to their own dimension, something which wore Gil out completely. Though because Gil used Raven, the seal on Alice's power was taken off, and Alice reverted to her B-Rabbit form when she and Oz were transported in the middle of a meeting between the Four Great Dukes at Pandora's Headquarters, creating chaos and allowing Vincent to move more freely, as he had plotted the entire thing. Re-Emergence of the Head Hunter Arc After going to see Rufus Barma to obtain information on the earthquake felt in Sablier, Rufus was attacking Sharon Rainsworth with Dodo in order to teach her respect for her elders after she had shouted at Rufus for comparing himself to Break. Not long after the attack started, Gil stepped in front of Sharon and used Raven's power to negate Dodo's own power. Second Coming of Age Ceremony When Gil went to help Break fight Fang, Tove, Lily and Bandersnatch, Gil kicked Break to the ground for trying to use Mad Hatter's power which could end up killing him. Gil then took over the fight, claiming to be Break's 'left eye'. Gil summons Raven and has it spread blue fire over the vicinity of Fang and Lily, though the two of them escaped before it could hit them, as the fire could seriously injure even the Baskervilles. Lily was furious that Gil was using one of Glen's Chains, and she demands that Fang turn around so they can kill Gil and set Raven free rather than retreat. Break asks for Gil's help to fight the Baskerville, planning on using Mad Hatter's power concentrated in his sword to attack the Baskervilles instead of a full on assault, and Gil was to watch his back. Gil had Raven fade back into his body and the two chased after the Baskervilles. Break arrives and attempts to attack the Baskervilles. Lily sees that his back is completely exposed and goes in to kill Break, but soon Gil appears behind him and joins the fight. While Lily goes after Break, Gil uses Raven's blue fire to stop Fang from helping Lily. Lily draws Reim Lunettes' gun and attempts to shoot Break, but Reim calls out to her from the forest and distracts her. Fang breaks through Gil's barrier and runs to Lily, pushing her out of the way of an attack from Break, taking the blow from his sword, which leads to Fang's death. Lottie arrives and retrieves Lily, while Gil, Break and Sharon tend to Reim. Jack's Intention Arc When Leo summons Jabberwock in the middle of Reveil in order to send Oz back into the Abyss, Gil tackles Oz out of the way of the Chains of Condemnation. Pandora arrives and tells Oz and Gilbert to step back while they take care of the situation. Leo tells Jabberwock to kill the Pandora members, and so Jabberwock begins generating his energy beam to obliterate them. Jabberwock's attack is cut short when Gil summons Raven to attack Jabberwock. Gil questions what Leo thought he was doing, as they were in the middle of town. Vincent notes Leo getting weaker from using Jabberwock so much, and so, Vincent decides to take over Leo's fight. Vincent summons Demios, and has her separate Oz and Gil so that Vincent could fight Gil. Demios and Raven then fight viscously while Alice battles Echo and Oz chases after Leo. Gil takes this oportunnity to ask Vincent why he's working with the Baskervilles, which Vincent says should be obvious as he was doing it all for Gil, in order to try and make him happy. Gil tackles Vincent to the ground and tries to talk some sense into his younger brother. Oz arrives riding on Equus, telling Gil and Alice that they needed to return to Pandora immediately, and so Gil leaves with Oz and Alice, Raven having faded back into his body. Description Appearance ﻿Raven appears looking much like an actual raven that is comparable in size to that of a house. The flesh around its face has been shown to have deteriorated as Raven's skull is clearly visible. Raven also has numerous lines of chains wrapped around it, one of which holds Raven's mouth open. Abilities and Powers *Raven can pass judgement on those accused with a sin. It would then open a path to the Abyss and summon the Chains of Condemnation in order to drag the offender into the depths of the Abyss. This is an ability shared wih its fellow Black Feathered Chains. *Raven can create '''blue flames that can hurt the Baskervilles due to their connection to The Five Black Winged chains of Glen Baskerville. It is assumed that the Baskervilles could also be killed eventually with these chains. *'Sealing Powers-' Gilbert uses Raven to seal B-Rabbit's powers. * Teleportation-''' It has the ability to traverse various dimensions. *Illusions-''' 'Raven can create many huge copies of menacing eyes, as it was shown to not have any eyes itself, to intimidate its victims. Raven can also manipulate darkness to seemingly become one with it. *Raven shares the ability to stop the destruction of the chains that hold the world together with his fellow Black Winged Chains. Quotes '-To Gilbert Nightray-''' * "You... again...?" *"The one who is qualified..." *"Oh... Your blood tastes the same after all..." *"The first time... we were interrupted. The second time we encountered eachother... you had lost your self awareness." *"Your power becomes hidden... when you are not aware of it... how are you now?" *"Self awareness and choice, you shall one day be made to decide..." Appearances '''(*) - Denotes that the character did not appear physically, but as a part of other characters' memories Trivia *Raven is likely based off of the monstrous crow mentioned by Tweedledee and Tweedledum in Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. Although never seen, the monsterous crow was feared greatly by the Tweedles, which could explain the feud between Gilbert/Raven and Zwei/Duldum. The Mad Hatter also often asked how a raven was like a writing desk in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Navigation Category:Chains Category:Characters